28 March 2008

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday Iraq is facing a new "defining moment" in current violence as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki cracks down on Shi'ite militants.

"Any government that presumes to represent the majority of people must confront criminal elements or people who think they can live outside the law and that's what taking place in Basra," Bush said at a White House news conference.

"I would say that this is a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq. There have been other defining moments up to now but this is a defining moment," he said. "This is a test ... for the Iraqi government."

U.S. Appears to Take Lead in Fighting in BaghdadU.S. Forces Battle Mahdi Army in Sadr City, Aircraft Target Basra

BAGHDAD, March 28 -- U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in the vast Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, and military officials said Friday that U.S. aircraft bombed militant positions in the southern city of Basra, as the American role in a campaign against party-backed militias appeared to expand. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the Sadr City fighting, as U.S. troops took the lead.

Definitely the stuff of great paired headlines:

If this keeps up, our chief export will be "irony." As if that weren't enough, though, this blood-soaked farce of U.S. forces bombing their way to the lead position in the Iraqi government's "defining moment," is all occurring against the backdrop of yesterday's (unintentionally comic) pronouncement from El Presidente:

"Normalcy," President Bush said, "is returning back to Iraq."

Of course, as long as your reference point for "normal" starts in 2003, he's actually spot-on.

On the bright side, though, now that they've "returned back" to normalcy, all that's left is for the Iraqis to kill the militia folks dead, reconcile some unity together, and finally move ahead forward.